Press Releases

This page contains press releases and other public statements by the Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors' Action Group. To subscribe to receive future releases by e-mail, use the form on the left. Journalists seeking further information or looking for people to interview can contact us at Press Enquiries.

Representatives of depositors in Landsbanki Guernsey met with key HM Treasury officials yesterday to seek the full return of their savings. The Treasury were quick to stress that responsibility lay with the States of Guernsey.

LGDAG SETS RECORD STRAIGHT PER RECENT EVENTS
AND CLEANS UP MIXED MESSAGES FROM MINISTERS

The Landsbanki Depositors’ Action Group (LGDAG) is setting the record straight regarding recent events, not least the comments in the media from Treasury & Resources Minister, Charles Parkinson and a letter received from the Chief Minister, Lyndon Trott. This is in the context of LGDAG’s ongoing three-month long fight to recover the seventy percent of their savings, currently at stake.

When both rescue schemes proposed by the Administrator, were discussed at the LGDAG’s recent meeting, attended by the Chief Minister, Treasury Minister Parkinson and Chief Executive Mike Brown, the LGDAG asked if both proposals had been put to all the Deputies. The four Action Group representatives were given to understand that Ministers, "took soundings among all Deputies", however at a meeting of over 100
depositors and a number of Deputies, which subsequently took place at Castel Douzaine, the LGDAG learned that this was not the case and that Ministers had apparently rejected the Administrator’s proposals without consulting the States, ie: all Deputies.

In light of this discovery, the LGDAG wrote to all the Deputies to present them with the proposals. This engendered a number of written replies from Deputies, which further confirmed that they had not previously received this information - contrary to what the LGDAG had understood from the meeting with The Chief Minister and Treasury Minister Parkinson.

LANDSBANKI GUERNSEY DEPOSITORS ACTION GROUP
RULES OUT DIRECT ACTION – FOR NOW

Local Landsbanki Guernsey depositors stated today that the Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG) would not be mounting any organised demonstrations for now, despite requests from a number of depositors both in the Bailiwick and further afield.
Following the apparent outright refusal by States Members to provide any form of assistance to people affected by the crash, a number of depositors wanted to carry out a demonstration to show the anger and upset this has caused.

A SWELL OF DISTRESSED LANDSBANKI GUERNSEY SAVERS
MEET AT CASTEL DOUZAINE ROOM
AMID ‘DISAPPOINTMENT’AT LACK OF SUPPORT FROM STATES

Frustrated and angry depositors – indeed the largest number to date - packed the Castel Douzaine Room late last week in their ongoing fight to recover 100% of their savings.

They gathered primarily to hear written responses from the Chief Minister Deputy Lyndon Trott, Finance Minister Deputy Parkinson and Chief Executive Mike Brown to questions the Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG) had put to the States at their meeting and also to hear in person what the States’ current view of the matter was, direct from the Chief Minister.

The unequivocal message received was that the States had decided that savers must rely solely on the work of the Joint Administrators and that the States had ‘no appetite’ to help local savers.

The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG) will meet for a second time with Chief Minister Trott at Sir Charles Frossard House, 2:00 pm on January 7th.

With seventy percent of their individual deposits still at stake, the LGDAG are poised to quiz the Chief Minister, Deputy Parkinson and the Chief Executive on a number of issues. Of key focus will be the Chief Minister’s reaction to December’s Justice Committee hearing in London, chaired by the Rt. Hon Sir Alan Beith where some questions ‘remained unanswered’ regarding the extent to which the Ministry of Justice were fulfilling the UK Government’s constitutional obligations in representing the affairs of Guernsey to the Icelandic government. Depositors in the bank - including hundreds of pensioners - want to know whether the Chief Minister feels he has the unequivocal backing of Her Majesty’s Government in their constitutional role to protect Guernsey and its institutions from external threats.

Depositors in Landsbanki Guernsey face a desperately bleak Christmas, with no prospect of the full return of their savings following the collapse of Landsbanki Guernsey on 6 October 2008.

The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG), which represents the 2,033 depositors from the collapsed Icelandic bank, have expressed extreme disappointment that the Governments of Guernsey, Iceland and the UK have been unable to find a solution to ensure the return of their savings, leaving many depositors facing an uncertain future this Christmas.

The LGDAG estimates that the vast majority of the depositors are British citizens, with a large proportion being pensioners who had their savings with Landsbanki Guernsey when the bank collapsed.

LANDSBANKI GUERNSEY DEPOSITORS & MEMBERS OF ACTION GROUP MEET AT TOWN HALL IN JERSEY

A number of Jersey based depositors from failed bank Landsbanki Guernsey, currently in administration, gathered for a meeting at the Magistrates Court in the Town Hall on Friday night. The meeting was conducted by Peter Wall, founding chairman of the local Jersey committee, together with Eleanor Monaghan and Brian Livesey. The meeting was also attended by Neil Dickens, chairman of the Guernsey arm of the Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG) and Press Secretary for the group at large. Mr Dickens had chaired a meeting of some 100 depositors with the bank in Guernsey the previous evening.

LANDSBANKI GUERNSEY DEPOSITORS SAY ‘IT’S TIME TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT’

It’s time to set the record straight regarding the depositors in Landsbanki Guernsey. Depositors are furious following the Treasury’s repeated assertions that they are tax dodgers.

The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG), which represents the 2033 depositors in the Icelandic bank, are increasingly angered by Alistair Darling’s assertion that the UK Crown Dependencies are ‘tax havens’ and failing to contribute to the UK Exchequer. The LGDAG has been seeking a meeting with Treasury representatives since the collapse of Landsbanki Guernsey last month. However, rather than engaging in productive and proactive discussions with depositors, the Treasury has been content to score political points whilst savers in Landsbanki Guernsey suffer.

The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG) welcomes the Pre-Budget Reports' commitment to review British offshore financial centres. The present lack of protection and transparency has led to thousands of depositors losing their savings, following the collapse of Landsbanki Guernsey.

The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group welcomes the Pre-Budget Report’s commitment to review British offshore financial centres. The present lack of protection and transparency has led to thousands of depositors losing their savings, following the collapse of Landsbanki Guernsey.

The LGDAG, however, strongly reject the Chancellor’s repeated assertions that savers in Landsbanki Guernsey were merely attracted by lower taxes. The majority of savers in Landsbanki Guernsey are Guernsey residents or British nationals living abroad who have found it virtually impossible, due to current government money laundering regulations, to open a bank account with a UK high street bank. We are not millionaire tax-evaders.